Year 9 students are studying inventions, their inventors and reasons why these items were invented.
At Friday’s Big Ideas session, teacher Aly Hill introduced the topic by challenging student groups to recreate the paperclip.
Students were allocated to groups and each group had three building challenges to complete in 30 minutes. The challenges were to create a device to catch a mouse made from recycled materials, a confetti launcher using a balloon, papercups, skewer and plastic utensils, and fabricating armour for balloon character Bay Max from Big Hero 6 that could withstand the weight of an adult.
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READ NOWThe tasks fall under the STEM teaching program that encourages higher-order thinking.
College principal Andrew Newhouse said research indicated that 75 per cent of the fastest-|growing occupations now required STEM skills.
“In addition to this, over 70 per cent of Australian employers identify STEM employees as being the most innovative and having these skills is highly sought after,” he said.
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